Improvement in railroad-car couplings



Rgn.l CHATT ERTQN.l

Gar Coupling.

Patented' June 28; 1864.

mi 2 UIN? UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD DOVER GHATTERTON, OF BATH, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILROAD-CAR. COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l13.375, dated June 2S,1864.

To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD DOVER CHAT- TER'roN, formerly of the city ofBath, in that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Irelandcalled England, but now residing in the town of Cobourg, in the countyof Northumberland, one of the united counties of Northumberland andDurham, in the Provinee of Canada, have invented a new and ImprovedCoupling for Railroad0ars, the iuvention being also applicable to theattaching of draft poles and thrills to ordinary carriages; and I do he;eby declare that the following is a ful', clear, and exact descriptionthereof, which will enable any person skilled in the art to make and usethe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making apart of this specication, in which- Figure l is a side sectional view ofmy invention, shown as a earcoupling, x Fig. 2 indicating` the line ofsection Fig. 2, a plan or top view of the same; Figs. 3 and 4, detachedviews of one form of shackle for the same; Fig. 5, a plan or top View ofa modiiication of my invention, shown applied as a draft-pole coupling;Fig. 6, a section of Fig. 5, taken in the line y y.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention consists in the employment or use of a shackle inconnection with a pawl or catch placed in the draw-head, and allarranged as hereinafter fully set forth, whereby a self-connectingcai-coupling is obtained, and a coupling which will be applicable to thesecuring of draft-poles and thrills to ordinary horse-carriages.

A, Figs. 1 and 2, represents the draw-head of a car-coupling, which maybe attached to the car in the usual or in any proper way. The draw-headis provided with the ordinary iiaring mouth or front, and in the upperpart of the draw-head, just behind the flaring mouth, there is titted apawl or catch, B, which may be of semi cylindrical form, and tted nearits upper end on a shaft, c, the ends of which are allowed to turnfreely in the draw-head. The dat or plane surface of this pawl or catchB faces outward and bears against the inner edges of the sides b, of theDaring mouth of the draw-head, the gravity of the pawl or catch having atendency to keep it in that position, as will be understood by referringtc Fig. l.

C represents a shackle, which may be conl structed of a single bar, c,provided at each end with a head or knob, d, of cylindrical 'or otherproper form, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, or it may be constructed in theform of a link with a head or knob, d, at one end only, as shown inFigs. 3 and 4. The heads or knobs d should be of such a thicknessvertically as to exceed the height of the space between the lower end ofthe pawl or catch B andthe back edge of the bottom c of the mouth of thedraw head.

From the above description it will be seen that when one end of theshackle G is thrust into the draw-head t-he head or knob d will shoveback the pawl or catch, and when the head or knob has passed the pawl orcatch the latter will drop and the former Will be caught and retainedbetween the lower end of the pawl or catch and the back edge of thebottom e ofthe flaring mouth-piece,as shown clearly in Fig. l.

In order to release the shackle C, the pawl cord, f.

The link-shackle shown in Figs. 3 and 4, is used in 'case one car of thetwo to be coupled is provided with the ordinary pincoupling. y

In order to apply this invention to the connecting of draft poles andthrills to horse-carriages, a head or knob, d', is formed on or securedto the inner end of the draftlpole A', (see Fig. 5,) and the pawl orcatch B is tted between vertical plates g g, firmly secured on the frontaxle, D, or a bar at the front part of the vehicle, the head or knob dbeing caught between the lower end of the `pawl or catch B' and the axleD.

poses specified.

RICHARD DVER UIIATTERTN.

Witnesses: y

T. MORE T. KELLEY, R. S. ALEXANDER.

or catch B is raised by means of a chain or For thills a head or knobmay be attached

